The present invention relates generally to home appliance control and, more particularly, to a power strip having control and monitoring functionality, especially for use in conjunction with a remote control device with appliance power awareness.
In the art it is known to monitor power supplied to home appliances. For example, Niles currently markets a power sensor under the “APC-2” brand name. Similarly, Panja markets a power sensor under the “AMX” “PCS” and “PCS2” brand names. These power sensors are particularly used to monitor the state of a home appliance, i.e., whether the home appliance is powered on or in a standby mode of operation (also referred to as off). More particularly, the power sensors are used in connection with a system that further comprises a central controller. The power sensors communicate state information to the central controller, via a hard wired connection, and the central controller is programmable to use the state information to effect control of home appliances.
While these known systems work for their intended purpose, they have not been widely adopted for use by consumers for the reason that they suffer numerous drawbacks. In this regard, the systems are expensive to purchase and installation (e.g., wiring of the components) often requires the assistance of a professional. Programming the central controller also requires a high-level of programming skill that most consumers find intimidating or are simply unable to comprehend. For example, the Niles system central controller is programmable only by authorized dealers/installers. Thus, the need exists for a system and method for controlling appliances having a power awareness component that an average consumer can afford to purchase and can easily use.
For simply controlling the operation of home appliances, it is also known to provide a remote control with macro command capabilities. For example, commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 5,959,751, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, describes a method of programming a remote control to respond to activation of a macro key to cause the transmission of command codes that have been assigned to the macro key. Programming of a macro key can be accomplished by a consumer simply entering a macro setup mode, activating keys on the remote control in the same manner that the consumer would normally activate keys to cause one or more appliances to perform one or more operations, and exiting the macro setup mode. Macro keys can also be preprogrammed.
While remote controls having macro command capabilities have been widely accepted and used by consumers, there is a particular problem associated with the use of macros. When a macro is programmed to transmit power control commands to an appliance (e.g., a macro programmed to turn on a VCR, turn on a television, and tune the television to channel 3), there is no easy way to ensure that the appliance is in a known state when the macro is executed. Thus, there is no easy way to ensure that the desired operations will be performed when the macro is executed. In the example provided, if the television were already powered on prior to executing the macro, executing the macro might send a power toggle command to the television that would not have the desired effect of turning the television on. Rather, to the frustration of a user, the power toggle command in the executing macro would cause the already powered on television to turn off and the tune to channel 3 command would not be capable of being operated upon by the now powered off television.
To solve this problem, it is possible for users to program a macro which omits the transmission of power commands. This, however, defeats the purpose of providing a remote control with macro command capabilities as the user must then control power to an appliance by conventionally activating keys on the remote control or by manually turning on/off the appliances. Alternatively, in limited cases where another function command also causes an appliance to turn on (e.g., most Sony AV receivers will turn on if not already on when an input select command is received) a macro can be programmed using these function commands to place the appliance in a desired state. This solution is also not acceptable as it requires the user to have a knowledge of the intricacies of the operation of an appliance which is knowledge that most consumers fail to possess. Furthermore, even if the consumer had such knowledge of appliance operation, this solution requires that the appliance be placed in a state that might not be desired by the consumer thereby creating a further problem that needs to be addressed (e.g., by requiring the consumer to add further steps to a programmed macro). Accordingly, the need also exists for a system and method for controlling appliances that an average consumer can easily use and which will ensure that the desired operations will be performed.